Message from Principal Collins
Welcome to November! Now that our first sports season of this year has officially concluded, let’s take this time to congratulate the students on a fine season. Let’s give a special thank you to the coaches and volunteers who helped to make this year’s fall sports successful. We want to give a shout-out to our band, ASB, and Leadership scholars for being ready at the pep assembly to help bring on the spirit of the Grizzlies last week. Our scholars are the best!
Even though the weather keeps changing on us and the leaves are falling with brilliant colors of orange, red, and yellow to decorate our school grounds the academic process here at Evergreen is staying constant. The teachers and scholars have established their routines and procedures for class lessons. November is an important time for us all to reflect on the many blessings bestowed upon us. I am certainly thankful for the many blessings in my life, including working with the amazing scholars, parents/caregivers, teachers, and support staff at Evergreen Middle School.
Thank you to all of you who came to the Student Led Conferences. While you were conferencing, you should receive two reports during your meeting. First, you will receive a Progress Report. Secondly, you will receive your child's i-Ready Parent Report. These two documents will help frame your discussion with the teacher.
The Standards-Based Progress Report will illustrate where your child is falling within the standards taught at his/her grade level. The marks on a standards-based progress report or report card are different from traditional letter grades. Letter grades are often calculated by combining how well the student met his/her particular teacher's expectations, how he/she performed on assignments and tests, and how much effort the teacher believes he/she put in. Letter grades do not tell parents which skills their children have mastered or whether they are working at grade level.
Standards-based progress/report cards should provide more consistency between teachers than traditional report cards because all students are evaluated on the same grade-level skills. Parents can see exactly which skills and knowledge their child has acquired. Keep in mind the goal is to have students master the standard by the end of the school year. It is likely standards will be marked as progressing and some will not be introduced yet this term. That is because we've only been in school for two months.
The second document you will receive is the i-Ready Parent Report. Evergreen is excited to continue using the Mathematics and Reading program called i-Ready. We have been using i-Ready as a diagnostic tool, to help us support scholars with their academics. We feel confident our students will see greater success this year as we continue to focus on grade-level standard instruction. Below, you will find information about the application and how we will be using it in the classroom.
What is i-Ready?
i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.
The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a set of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.
i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth.
These interactive lessons offer strategic support to keep your child engaged as they learn.
To support your child’s learning in Online Instruction, you can:
- Discuss your child’s progress in their i-Ready lessons.
- Celebrate your child’s learning and growth.
- Encourage them to use i-Ready at home.
Here is a weather reminder for you to review. Please do not hesitate to contact me (my email is listed below) if you have any questions.
Outdoor Wear: temperatures are falling, and it is important to send your child to school with appropriate outdoor wear (hats, coats, gloves, etc.).
Building comprehension skills helps your child read to learn. Reading is a key way students learn every day. That’s why reading comprehension is so vital. Your child will need to understand the meaning of individual words and also the meaning of the text as a whole both what is directly stated and what is implied. To help your middle schooler get more out of reading:
- Have your child ask questions like: What do I hope to learn from this? How is this different from what I expected? Suggest that your student mark passages that relate to these questions with sticky notes.
- Reinforce personal connections. When children read something that reminds them of something they have seen or done, the reading has more meaning. Your child can also mark those passages with sticky notes saying what they bring to mind.
- Ask questions that encourage thinking. When your child finishes reading a passage, ask things like: What kind of personality does the main character have? How can you tell? Do you know anyone like that? How do you think the book will end?
- Encourage frequent reading. Everything your child reads adds to background knowledge, which makes future reading easier to understand. Frequent reading also builds fluency, which supports comprehension.
We appreciate your continued partnership and support. Thank you for partnering with us to educate your children. If you have any questions or need further assistance, please feel free to contact me. Have a wonderful month and Thanksgiving holiday!
In partnership,
Mrs. Collins
Principal Evergreen Middle School
253 945 5100
